Brilliant Stevenson drops Yoshino twice, stops him in 135 eliminator

Rising heavyweight star Anderson blows out Arias in three rounds; Davis breaks down Yigit in dominating ninth-round knockout

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During the build up to their fight, Shakur Stevenson took exception to Shuichiro Yoshino saying that he lacked power.

Yoshino’s comments irritated Stevenson, who, granted, is known far more for his brilliant skills and defensive prowess than punching power. But in the days leading up the bout, Stevenson promised that he was going to “beat him up. He’s going to leave that ring knowing that I’m the best fighter he’s ever been in the ring with.”

Yoshino surely must think that after the absolute one-sided shellacking Stevenson laid on him in the main event of the Top Rank Boxing on ESPN card Saturday night at Prudential Center in Stevenson’s hometown of Newark, New Jersey.

Former featherweight and unified junior lightweight titlist Stevenson made his official lightweight debut by knocking Yoshino down twice and stopping him in the sixth round of a WBC final elimination bout before a crowd of 10,408.

Newark’s main name is ‘The Bricks,’ and tonight I had bricks in my hands,” Stevenson said. “We did what we were supposed to do. We settled our business and now we’re going to enjoy the family.”